On This Day: Ben Franklin’s Kite
by Noel Agnew
When not busy being a Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin used his spare time to paint, write, and invent things. On this day in 1752 he just may have invented the lightning rod. Attempting to prove that static electricity and lightning contained the same electrical energy, he had an ingenious idea. Perhaps as somebody one said he was told to “go fry a kite”.
He attached a string to a silk kite, and fitted the string with a key, which would act as an attractor. Franklin then flew the kite into rain clouds before a thunderstorm (not directly into lightning, that would just be dangerous). It was only when Franklin noticed some of the string’s threads standing erect that he knew he had been successful. Placing his knuckle near the key, he was jolted by an electric spark. As well as receiving plaudits at home, Franklin became famous in France and England and went on to publish instructions on how to protect houses with lightning rods. Then there was Declaration of Independence thing too…
June 15th, 2009 at
That Franklin guy is awesome!